I'm excited about tomorrow's launch of the State of the Air: 2008. When I found out that this year's report card reveals that that one in 10 people in the U.S. live in areas with unhealthy levels of all three types of pollution: ozone, short-term and year-round particle pollution, I immediately went online to check the levels in my own state to see how this affected me and my family.
I realized that, in addition to alarming base-levels of air pollution throughout the country, there are some especially hard hit areas but also some good news: some areas received high grades. Even polluted areas have demonstrated improvements in the ten years that we've been researching this issue.
Given all the progress that has been made – and the work that still has to be done – I decided to do something. It's easy to contact federal policy makers and let them know that you are concerned, easier still to contribute funding to the larger effort.
Please join me in learning more about how to protect yourself and more about the risks of air pollution. Together we can begin to make a real impact, let me know if you have any questions or would like to learn more about the American Lung Association.